48 LOSCH Motorsport by BLACK FALCON and W&S Motorsport win Cup 2 and Cup 3 in commanding fashion at shortened 24h Nürburgring

• 48 LOSCH Motorsport by BLACK FALCON (#948) with Müller, Nagelsdiek, Pereira and Rivas wins Cup 2 class from pole position
• Bednarski, Oberheim, Stegmann and Zulauf from W&S Motorsport (#962) dominate Cup 3 class with commanding start-to-finish victory
• The duo Grosse and Grütter from SRS Team Sorg Rennsport (#901) competed in the endurance classic as a team of two and finish third in the Cup 2 class
• Power failure causes unexpected race interruption in the early hour

Nürburg. Summer temperatures put both man and machine to the test at the 53rd edition of the ADAC RAVENOL 24h Nürburgring. With temperatures reaching 31 degrees Celsius, a total of 23 vehicles lined up at the start under the technical regulations of the Porsche Endurance Trophy Nürburgring (PETN) and battled for class victories in Cup 2 and Cup 3. Starting from pole position, the 48 LOSCH Motorsport Team by BLACK FALCON (#948) with Tobias Müller, Noah Nagelsdiek, Dylan Pereira and Carlos Rivas won the Cup 2 class. W&S Motorsport (#962) dominated the Cup 3 class, winning comfortably with Joshua Bednarski, Moritz Oberheim, Lorenz Stegmann and Finn Zulauf. While most of the cars in the field were manned by four drivers, Fabio Grosse and Patrik Grütter from SRS Team Sorg Rennsport (#901) took to the track as a two-man line-up in the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. After 12 hours of driving, the duo finished the race in third place in their class. The weather conditions promised a 24-hour race without interruptions, but a power failure in the paddock forced the race directors to interrupt the race for over two hours in the early hours.

Qualifying for the 24-hour race took place over three sessions with a total of more than six hours of driving time on the 25.378-kilometre combination of the Nürburgring Grand Prix circuit and the Nordschleife. With a lap time of 8:31.230 minutes, pole position in the Cup 2 class went to 48 LOSCH Motorsport by BLACK FALCON (#948) with Tobias Müller, Noah Nagelsdiek, Dylan Pereira and Carlos Rivas. In the Cup 3 class, W&S Motorsport (#962) with Joshua Bednarski, Moritz Oberheim, Lorenz Stegmann and Finn Zulauf took pole position with a lap time of 8:59.476 minutes.

Commanding victory in Cup 2 class – Grosse and Grütter finish as a duo on the podium

At the start of the 24-hour race, the 48 LOSCH Motorsport Team by BLACK FALCON (#948) with Tobias Müller, Noah Nagelsdiek, Dylan Pereira and Carlos Rivas initially pulled away in the Cup 2 class until the red flag was waved at 17:30. This was due to a power failure in the pit buildings, which meant that the fuel pumps, among other things, were out of operation and prevented the race from continuing as planned. At that point, the Luxembourg-based team was leading by almost half a minute ahead of the Mühlner Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 Cup with Martin Rump, Nick Salewsky and Tim Scheerbarth. After the field was sent back out onto the track at 19:45, a duel initially developed between cars 948 and 918, but over the course of the race, the LOSCH Porsche once again pulled away at the front, steadily increasing its lead and continuing to move up in the overall standings. Müller, Nagelsdiek, Pereira and Rivas crossed the finish line in 11th place overall, one lap ahead of Rump, Salewsky and Scheerbarth.

„I finally broke the spell in my fourth 24-hour race in the 911 GT3 Cup. It was a superb team performance, especially in such difficult conditions. The heat made it tough for everyone, so we are all the more relieved to be celebrating class victory,” summarises Tobias Müller.

Fabio Grosse and Patrik Grütter from SRS Team Sorg Rennsport (#901) secured a podium finish in third place in the Cup 2 class after a particularly challenging race. The duo decided to contest the 24-hour race as a pair, meaning that both drivers clocked up 12 hours of driving time.

„It was just crazy and super exhausting. I'd be lying if I said the last two stints were fun, but to reach the podium and look back and say that we drove the 24-hour race as a pair is something special. Our expectations were completely exceeded – we just wanted to get through, even if we had to stop the car at some point to rest. The pressure from the competition was an advantage, as it gave us enough adrenaline to get through the race without a break," says Fabio Grosse.

The AM classification, which is based on the FIA driver classification, was won by Alexander Hardt, Thomas Kiefer, Peter Ludwig and Maik Rosenberg from BLACK FALCON Team ZIMMERMANN (#900) ahead of Philip Hamprecht, Patrick Huisman, Nic Jönsson and Tracy Krohn from RPM Racing (#777).

Dominant performance in Cup 3 class

In the Cup 3 class, Joshua Bednarski, Moritz Oberheim, Lorenz Stegmann and Finn Zulauf from W&S Motorsport (#962) were unbeatable. The quartet dominated from pole position and built up a six-lap lead over the second-placed team, EiFelKind Racing (#977) with Michael Fischer, Desiree Müller, PETN Talent Pool participant Tim Lukas Müller and Juan Carlos Carmona Chavez, over the course of the race.

„The race was perfect for us – it couldn't have gone better. We had no incidents, every pit stop went smoothly, the car was great and the pace of all four drivers was good. We can be really happy with the class victory and 26th place overall,” says Finn Zulauf.

The podium was completed by SRS Team Sorg Rennsport (#969) with “Maximilian”, Guy Stewart, Kurt Strube and Bernhard Wagner, who won the AM classification. Second place in the AM classification went to Guillermo Aso Arjol, Alvaro Fontes, Pippa Mann and Martin Rich from Breakell Racing (#932) ahead of Axel Duffner, René Höber, Christoph Krombach and Fabian Peitzmeier from W&S Motorsport (#982).

The PETN now has an eight-week break. The next championship race will take place on 16 August with the 6h ADAC Ruhr Cup race as part of the Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie (NLS). Before that, the teams can take part in the Cup 3 class at the NLS-light race on 5 July under the same technical regulations. The race will cover a distance of four hours and will be held without the SP9, Cup 2, SP-X and SP-PRO classes.

Press contact:

Jona Kläsener

Junior PR & Content Manager
E-Mail: j.klaesener@manthey-racing.de